How to Weld, Trim and Combine Objects

How to Weld, Trim and Combine Objects

In CorelDRAW, a variety of shaping tools can help you easily create visually appealing designs for logos, clip art, and more. These powerful tools can be used to build simple or complex shapes that will give you practically limitless artistic abilities! This tutorial will go over the basics of the CorelDRAW shaping tools, step-by-step, and then guide you through creating even more advanced designs.

Thanks for watching! We hope you found this tutorial helpful and we would love to hear your feedback in the Comments section below. You will find a written version of this tutorial below, and a printable PDF copy to download on the Download Resources tab above.

Learn how to use CorelDRAW’s shaping tools to transform objects, by welding or combining objects, using one object to trim another object, and more.

Thanks for watching! We hope you found this tutorial helpful and we would love to hear your feedback in the Comments section below. You will find a written version of this tutorial below, and a printable PDF copy to download on the Download Resources tab above.

How to Use the Weld Tool

The Weld tool takes two shapes and combines them into one.It does this by giving the final shape that’s created the same properties of the selected target shape, once they’ve been welded together.

Here, we go over how to create a yellow cat with the Weld tool:

Select the pink ear with the Pick tool

Hold down the Shift key and select the yellow circle

Click on the Weld tool in the interactive toolbar

Repeat this process with the other ear to turn them both yellow

Welding Using the Shaping Docker

You can also use the Shaping docker to weld shapes. After opening the Shaping docker, make sure to select Weld from the drop-down menu. The Shaping docker has two options available when welding. You can choose to leave the original source object, which is the first object you selected, or you can choose to leave the original target object, in case you need to further build your artwork.

Let’s take a look at how you can use the Weld tool in the Shaping docker to create a logo:

For this example, make sure to choose the “Leave original source object” option.

Use the Pick tool to select the R

Click the Weld to button in the Shaping docker

Click the C (our target object)

Pull the welded letters away to see the original R left behind

How to Use the Trim Tool

The key to using the Trim tool is to decide which object needs trimmed, and which object you are going to use to trim it.

In this example, we are going to create a simple crescent moon from two circles, using the pink circle to trim the grey circle:

Select the pink circle with the Pick tool

Hold down the Shift key

Select the grey circle

Click Trim in the interactive toolbar

Pull the pink shape away to reveal the grey crescent moon

How to Use the Intersect Tool

The Intersect tool helps you create a shape using overlapping shapes.

In this first example, we are going to create half stars on the edge of a flag design:

Select the blue shape

Hold down the Shift key

Select the top star

Click the Intersect button in the interactive toolbar

Click white on your color palette while the new intersected piece is selected

Delete the original pink star

Repeat the same process with the second star

In this second example, we are going to put teeth inside the mouth of our “smiley guy” design:

Select the teeth

Hold down the Shift key

Select the red mouth

Click the Intersect button in the interactive toolbar

Delete the original teeth

Select the new teeth

Click white on your color palette while the new teeth are selected

How to Use the Front Minus Back Tool

The Front minus back tool erases shapes that are in the back of a design and leaves those are at the front. With this tool, it’s not critical which shape is selected first.

In this example, we’re going to remove the blue rectangles, while leaving the red triangle intact:

Select the triangle

Hold down the Shift key

Select the blue rectangles

Click the Front minus back button in the interactive toolbar

How to Use the Back Minus Front Tool

The Back minus front tool works in the opposite fashion, by subtracting the back shape from the front shape in designs, creating a different result.

In this example, we’re going to make a quick logo using this tool:

Select the G

Hold down the Shift key

Select the black circle

Click the Back minus front button in the interactive toolbar

How to Use the Simplify Tool

The Simplify tool trims overlapping areas among objects, no matter the order in which the objects are selected. At first, it looks like nothing has happened, but if you pull the objects away from one another, you will see each layer beneath is trimmed by the objects above or below it, like a cookie cutter.

In this example, we are going to remove the red rectangle from a design for a more uniform, simplified result:

Lasso all the objects on top of the blue background

Click the Simplify button in the interactive toolbar

Delete the red rectangle to see the blue background

Go to View > Wireframe to see the bare bone results

Go to View > Enhanced to return to your normal view

How to Combine Shapes

The Combine tool is a great way to modify existing artwork to recolor or manipulate it to look differently.

In this example, we are going to use the Combine tool to get a pure silhouette in a deer design, so it can be placed on top of other pieces of art:

Select one of the white shapes

Hold down the Shift key

Select the image of the deer

Click the Combine button

Repeat this process for each white shape

How to Break Apart Shapes

The opposite of the Combine tool is the Break apart tool, which allows you to make multiple parts out of a single object.

For this example, we’re going to break this shape apart, so we can color the stars white:

Select the shape

Click the Break apart button in the toolbar

It will look as if the stars have disappeared, but they are still there! They’re just now the same blue as the background.

Let’s find the stars using Wireframe view and finish coloring them white:

Go to View > Wireframe

Lasso the all the stars, making sure to avoid lassoing the rectangle

Now click white on your color palette

Go to View > Enhanced to return to normal view

Go to Object > Order > To Front of Page to bring the stars forward into view

Putting it All Together – Creating a Castle with CorelDRAW Shaping Tools

Now that you’ve learned the basics of using the shaping tools in CorelDRAW, let’s put them to work by creating a fun design!

In this example, we are going to use the shaping tools to create a castle:

Select the left side of the castle

Click the Weld tool to combine the top and bottom together

Choose black in your color palette

Select all 4 pink squares

Click the Trim button

Deleted the 4 pink squares

Select the left side of the castle

Duplicate it by pressing Ctrl + D on your keyboard

Hold down the Ctrl key and drag the duplicate to the right side of the castle

Select the left side and all other black parts of the castle

Click the Weld button in the toolbar

Select the pink and grey circle in the upper right corner

Hold down the Shift key

Click the Simplify button

Delete the pink circle, leaving a grey crescent moon

Hold down the Shift key

Select all the pieces of the bell

Click the Weld button in the toolbar

Select all the squares in the window on the right side

Click the Combine button in the toolbar

Press Ctrl + D to duplicate the combined window

Drag it underneath the other windows

Select the upper left window and choose yellow in your color palette

Select the other windows and choose white in your color palette

Select the bars in the gate

Select the other part of the gate

Click Back minus front in the toolbar

Choose white in your color palette

Lasso the whole castle

Press Ctrl + G to group it

Go to Object > Sharing > Boundary

Choose white in the color palette to change the outline color

Go to the Outline tool

Choose a width of .25”

Set Behind fill and Scale with object

Click OK

Go to Object > Order > Back One

Congratulations! You’ve completed your castle and learned how to make good use of the shaping tools in CorelDRAW.

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Comments (3)

We do not currently have any exercise files for this tutorial, but thank you for the suggestion! We are always looking for ways to improve our tutorial offerings, and have passed it on to the tutorial team for their consideration.